As one of the top 20 public research universities in the nation, and one of the fastest growing in terms of research funding in the UC system over the last two decades, UC Davis has consistently grown its strengths in world-class, interdisciplinary research and discovery. Leveraging its diverse faculty expertise, UC Davis is known for its collaborative environment that spurs innovations in learning and science by discoveries that take shape at the frontiers and intersections of academic disciplines. This distinctive approach, supported by unprecedented research resources, has resulted in national foundations and government agencies recognizing UC Davis as a powerhouse in discovery science.
In 2013 UC Davis decided to invest over $10.9 million into 13 new, globally competitive, large-scale interdisciplinary research efforts. Called the Research Investments in Sciences and Engineering (RISE) program, this initiative brought together scientists and researchers from over 50 different disciplines to work together on basic research problems that create transformative knowledge and technologies focused on solving major societal problems that transcend state, national, and global boundaries.
Our initial investment is a success, resulting in some very exciting scientific progress and generation of significant levels of extramural funding. Eleven projects have secured follow-on funding from federal and state agencies and the program is already producing a 10:1 return on our initial investment with just under one year to run. It is from this experience that we are confident in the vision for a Basic Research Fund in Physical and Biological Sciences proposed by the Science Philanthropy Alliance. Early stage investments in fundamental, curiosity-driven research are critical to opening up entirely new fields of scientific endeavor, sustaining US leadership in scientific research, and helping to advance progress in solving some of the biggest scientific challenges of our time.
For more information on the fund, view the University of California, Davis Full Description.